beautiful colt mark IV series 70

[realmswalker]

Beautiful cause it's mine.

A retired sergeant who works as a contract retiree comes into the office once a week to sign his time sheets. We usually talk guns and have made a trade in the past. I always bug him about any guns he has. Last week he walks in and my partner says "Got any 1911's?", before I can say anything. he says he has a commemorative colt made for the sheriff's department in the the 80's. he says his ex wife bought it for him and he hates her, so he will sell it for 700 dollars.

I say I will take it, but my partner says he asked first. being as he did ask first I said it's all yours. I tell him if for any reason he has to back out let me know as I want it. Well his wife shot him down to buy the gun and it ended up in my hands. It's a beautiful piece.

The gentlemen who sold it to me said he was glad a department member got it and to enjoy.

he brings it in and the thing has never even been held. It's still in the orginal shipping box, in a plastic bag with what seems to be cosmoline or some preservative. has all the paperwork, and a beautifull presentation box.

It's number 143 of 450. My buddy looked it up in a colt book to see if it came from the colt shop, or was bought by our department and sent out to get work done. It came from the colt custom shop.

I agonized over shooting this gun for about 10 seconds before i realized I would never sell it, and I am not into safe queens. I know i brought down the value by shooting it but I don't even care because this gun is an absolute keeper. Here are some pics for your viewing pleasure. Please forgive my photography as it is not the greatest.

I shot the hell out of it this weekend. it ran great and is a very accurate piece.

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[realmswalker]

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[outerlimit]

That is super nice. Congrats! Thanks for the excellent pictures.

 

[SHOOT1SAM]

Nothing at all wrong with those pics!!

Glad to know someone actually shoots these beauties too.

Sam

 

[Master Blaster]

Here is mine, I traded for it used a few years ago, traded a sigp230sl even up with a gun shop. I still have the original pachmayrs wrap arounds that came with it. It was a sherrif department trade in, when they went to Glocks in 1998, I saw it one hour after the GS owner put it out, and decided to offer him my P230 which had failed miserably as a carry gun. This particular shop catered to the tactical crowd and sold lots of SIGs, Glocks, and HKs, but not many colts so It cost me the $325 I had in the SIG P230sl. My series 70 govt model has a colt guard nickle finish, and MMC mini adjustible sights. One of the best trades I ever made, it shoots great.

 

[Oro]

That is very nice. Thanks for the photos - very fun to go over. Nice gun and nice condition.

I'd detail strip it and clean it really well. There's some oxidation here and there, obviously. Then put a coat of wax on it to keep it clean and dry. looks like that plunger spring needs to come out and some oxidation dealt with.

Really neat, thanks again for sharing.

 

[WC145]

Very cool! And it's even cooler because you took it out and shot it.

 

[TexasRifleman]

Man, you gotta hate a woman a LOT to sell a gun over her.

Nice find

 

[Eightball]

I give you props for shooting it. Though, the fact that it's LA county means it should be shot alot

 

[salvo]

That is a nice Colt, congrats!
Glad your shooting it, seems like allot of people don't understand the rewards and enjoyment of shooting fine old firearms.
I have a Series 70 Government model, my wife bought it for me when we got married 25 years ago. I have shot it allot at the range but have not carried it, still looks like new.

 

[Hostile Amish]

All I can say is.. Damn.

 

[351 WINCHESTER]

Colt did the same thing for U.S. Customs Service some years ago. An agent bought one and took it out to see how it shot. It was a pos so he sent it back and they made it work. I think a lot of these guns made by colt don't work properly as colt probably figured no one was going to shoot them. There were other agents that had problems with theirs too. Back then Colt was the only game in town and it was usual when one bought a new Colt to give it to a 1911 guy to have it throated, trigger and extractor tuned, lowered ejection port, fit barrel bushing, fit barrel. I bought a new commander back then and it would not feed ball ammo??? Talk about quality control.

 

[351 WINCHESTER]

By the way it is a pretty pistol.

 

[JohnnyOrygun]

Absolutely Beautiful, Congratulations and "Thumbs Up" for shooting it, it deserves to be shot. Great Gun and what a deal too!

JohnnyOrygun

 

[JB Books]

I love the Series 70!

 

[gglass]

If you did not catch it, Colt auctioned off a huge portion of their historic collection in Las Vegas a week ago. The items for auction ranged from 125+ year old wheelguns to some very recent experimental/prototype weapons, and prices ranged from $100 to $750,000... I was glued to the live event for the whole day. They did have quite a few firearms made for various LE agencies... I especially like the 1911 made for the DEA (very cool). A;though I did not win any of the bids, my brother did snag a real nice 1911.

My brother (Vietnam vet) won this nice little beauty:

Greg Martin Auctions
Exquisite Colt Collection
1/18/2009 3:30 PM Pacific

Lot # 461
***Boxed Colt Government Model Vietnam Special Edition Pistol, with Factory Letter
Serial no. 81482B70. .45ACP, 5-inch barrel, the gold-etched slide with decoration and inscriptions, the barrel breech including stamping indicating MK IV Series '70. Blued, with partial frost finish. Smooth select rosewood grips with Custom Shop Colt coat-of-arms medallion inlays. Yellow warning tag on trigger guard. Orange safety insert for barrel breech. Wood grain box with Custom Shop end label, indicating factory order no. 11318, and with manual, brochures and original packing list document.
Condition: Fine. Box and end label with minor wear.
Notes: Retained by factory as prototype and display pistol of special edition. This modern firearm cannot be purchased by California residents who do not possess a Federal Firearms License.
Provenance: Colt Factory Archives Firearms Collection.